Picking Up Patience

PICKING UP PATIENCE:

INSPECTION & DRIVING AWAY

Next morning, 3/13: Kylara, Allison & I drop the rental car off, Emily picks us up off the side of the road in Patience, and we go to a mechanic, Dr. Dave, in Asheville, NC. I found this mechanic by posting a message to the Asheville Couchsurfing group, and he was EXCELLENT -- I will give you his info if you need a Vanagon mechanic in Asheville. Inspecting the car, test driving it, paperwork, etc. took around 4 hours? I felt very good about it. Work done on her: Dr. Dave put in a new (used) temperature gauge, as the other one burned out when Emily had Patience in Death Valley. He put on a new water pump belt because it was loose & missing teeth. He wasn't satisfied with the tension--he told me that when I get back to Baltimore, I was to get a belt 1/4in-1/2in smaller & have mechanic put it on. He said there was an oil leak - "not terrible, not good". I would want it checked out. He said he believed there was only about 110K miles on it. He changed the fuel filter (there were 2 sitting around in the car, so, "why not?") & showed me how, it is easy. He pointed out some sketchy wiring at the battery terminal that would be good to fix up. He said the coolant looked milky - had some oil in it. Needs a coolant flush. He test drove it on the highway & side roads.

I drive the car away from the mechanic, to the foot of a VERY steep uphill which leads to the road. Kylara offers to drive up it, I say sure, might as well not have me kill the car so fast. We switch seats, and Kylara's attempts are failing. We (at least I), sit in calm, confident silence. Fail. Fail. Allison suggests we get a mechanic to get Patience up the hill. We sit in calm silence, thinking.

Me: "Can I try?"

Kylara: "Sure"

Me: "Maybe there will be some magic."

Kylara: "That would be good."

Annnnnd she goes right on up the hill on the first try!!! Glory be ours!! (The problem when Kylara was trying was that the stick wasn't actually in 1st. It can be tricky to really know what gear it is in, until you get used to it.)

We stopped to get beer (which involved reversing for my first time in Patience, more great success) and continued to Natasha & Gavin's. They live on top of Beaucatcher Mountain, and their driveway is practically vertical. We made it up with ease, glory still be ours. :) We made delicious, triumphant dinner, drank wine, talked about life & things, went to sleep early cause we were beat! (From lack of sleep previous night.)